Lomas Brown says he and Scott Mitchell are now friends

Since his retirement from football, Lomas Brown has made a second career as a studio analyst for ESPN. Unfortunately, the broadcast platform got him in trouble late last season, Mike O'Hara of Detroitlions.com reports.

In a free-flowing radio interview, Brown claimed that he deliberately let an opposing defensive lineman sack then-Lions quarterback Scott Mitchell in a 1994 game at Green Bay because Brown was convinced that Mitchell's poor performance was costing the Lions a chance to win.

Brown was severely criticized for making the comments. Even Brown agrees that the criticism was warranted.

Brown quickly apologized on ESPN, and played back the interview to hear himself.

"That was the most hurtful part, how I said it," Brown said. "You can hear the excitement in my voice. It was just wrong. I just really made myself sick when I heard myself."

Brown said he called Mitchell to discuss the comments, and said they had a long conversation and parted as friends. He would not have blamed Mitchell if he hadn’t forgiven him, Brown said.

"It was foolish," Brown said. "If that would have been me getting a phone call from me after what I said, I wouldn't have reacted the way Scott reacted," Brown said. "I would have been mad. I wouldn't have been laughing on the phone with me.